College Football Playoff to replace BCS

Bill Hancock, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, introduces the new name - College Football Playoffs - and competition framework of what will replace the BCS in 2014 at a meeting of the football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
— AP

Bill Hancock, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, introduces the new name - College Football Playoffs - and competition framework of what will replace the BCS in 2014 at a meeting of the football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
/ AP

Bill Hancock, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, introduces the new name - College Football Playoffs - and competition framework of what will replace the BCS in 2014 at a meeting of the football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)— AP

Bill Hancock, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, introduces the new name - College Football Playoffs - and competition framework of what will replace the BCS in 2014 at a meeting of the football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
/ AP

Bill Hancock, right, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, introduces the new name - College Football Playoffs - and competition framework of what will replace the BCS in 2014 at a meeting of the football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. He is joined onstage by, from left, commissioners Mike Slive of the Southeastern Conference, Britton Banowsky of Conference USA, Bob Bowlsby of the Big 12, and Larry Scott of the Pac-12. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)— AP

Bill Hancock, right, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, introduces the new name - College Football Playoffs - and competition framework of what will replace the BCS in 2014 at a meeting of the football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. He is joined onstage by, from left, commissioners Mike Slive of the Southeastern Conference, Britton Banowsky of Conference USA, Bob Bowlsby of the Big 12, and Larry Scott of the Pac-12. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
/ AP

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make— AP

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make
/ AP

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make— AP

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make
/ AP

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make— AP

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make
/ AP

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) commissioner John Swofford talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the confere— AP

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) commissioner John Swofford talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the confere
/ AP

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make— AP

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby talks to reporters during a break from a meeting of the Bowl Championship Series NCAA college football conference commissioners in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, April 23, 2013. The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff. A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press the new four-team playoff starting after the 2014 regular season will be called the College Football Playoff, and the conference commissioners will make
/ AP

PASADENA, Calif. 
The Bowl Championship Series will be replaced by the College Football Playoff.

The BCS conference commissioners announced the name of the new postseason system that starts in 2014 on Tuesday, the first of three days of meetings at a resort hotel in the Rose Bowl's backyard.

They also will choose the remaining three sites for the six-bowl semifinal rotation and the site of the first championship game to be held Jan. 12, 2015, this week.

The website
www.collegefootballplayoff.com
is already up and running and allowing fans to vote on a new logo. And there also is a Twitter handle: (at)cfbplayoff.

"It's really simple. It gets right to the point," BCS executive director Bill Hancock, who will hold the same position in the playoff system, said at a short news conference with the 10 commissioners of the FCS conferences.

"Nothing cute. Nothing fancy. We decided it would be best to call it what it is."

Premiere Sports Management in Overland Park, Kan., was hired to help come up with a name and brand the new system. A committee of commissioners handled the naming of the new system. Hancock said they ran through "in the neighborhood of three dozen" names.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said, "We're clearly trying to make a clear break from the BCS."

Before the news was reported, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said he'd be happy with whatever was selected.

"I'm am not good with names - obviously," Delany said with a smile, referring to the Big Ten's division names, Legends and Leaders, that produced so much negative feedback the conference has already decided to change them.

The new postseason format will create two national semifinals to be played New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, with the winners advancing. The six bowls in the playoff rotation will host marquee, BCS-type games on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day during the seasons they do not host a semifinal.

"I don't think you can ever go too wrong calling something what it is," Scott said. "Things that make sense tend to stand the test of time."

Three semifinal spots have already been decided: the Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls.

Four other bowls have bid for the final three spots. The clear front-runners are the Cotton, Chick-fil-A and Fiesta. The Holiday Bowl in San Diego also put in a bid, but even its organizers have acknowledged they are a long shot at best to land the game.

Those decisions will be announced Wednesday.

The coaches on the Big 12's spring teleconference were already talking about the Cotton Bowl having a spot in the rotation as if it was a done deal.

"I think it's really exciting for this region, for everybody, and I think all of the schools in this region, to have Dallas as one of those sites is great for everybody in this region, and exciting for everybody," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "Obviously, everybody knows what a great and quality, what an awesome stadium it is, then the location for us is an advantage, or should be."